57 private schools dropped from AAA scholarship program for lack of accreditation

Updated 3 weeks ago; Posted 7 mos ago

Tabernacle Christian School in Gardendale, Ala., is one of 57 private schools that were dropped from enrolling students using tax credit scholarships available through the Alabama Accountability Act because the schools did not earn accreditation by the June 9 deadline. (Trisha Crain | tcrain@al.com)

The list of private schools where K-12 students can use tax credit scholarships available under the Alabama Accountability Act just got much smaller, dropping from more than 200 schools to 151.

That list shrunk because changes to the AAA law in 2015 required participating private schools to get accredited within three years of the law's passage or the date they signed on to participate, effectively giving them until June 9. Of the 64 private schools that were unaccredited and subject to that deadline, 57 were dropped because they didn't gain accreditation by the June 9 deadline.

Proportion of unaccredited and accredited private schools that participate in the Alabama Accountability Act tax credit scholarship program, before and after the June 9 deadline to gain accreditation required by the 2015 law change.

That leaves the 169 students attending those schools looking for a new school for next year. There is no requirement to report the race of students using scholarships, but all of the students are from low-income families.

Most of those students received their scholarships through the Alabama Opportunity Scholarship Fund, one of seven organizations that distribute scholarships under the AAA.

The AAA authorized a dollar-for-dollar tax credit, up to $30 million for 2018, for taxpayers who make contributions to scholarship granting organizations, or SGOs, that in turn distribute scholarships to eligible students to attend private schools. Students are eligible if their family income is less than 185 percent of the federal poverty level---about $45,500 for a family of four in 2017.

AOSF Executive Director Lesley Searcy said her organization has been working with students attending the schools that were dropped from the list to help their families find a new school.

"We are absolutely committed to ensuring that every child on scholarship continues on scholarship in the school they want to attend," Searcy said. None of those students plan to return to public school, she said.

Based on quarterly reports filed with the Alabama Department of Revenue, the AOSF had 135 students on scholarships at 23 of the 57 schools that were dropped from the list.

Dots show the locations of the 57 private schools that were dropped from the Alabama Accountability Act's participating schools list for not becoming accredited by the June 9 deadline.

Of the 57 schools that were dropped from the list, 26 enrolled students with tax credit scholarships during the 2017-2018 school year. The dropped schools were from all over the state. and of the 43 for which a racial breakdown of enrollment was available, 21 enrolled a majority white student body, and 16 enrolled a majority black student body. One school was split evenly between black and Hispanic students.

At ten schools, enrollment data showed all students as African-American. None of the schools showed an all-white student body.

The largest of the dropped schools enrolled more than 300 students and four schools enrolled fewer than 10 students.

Through March 31, AOSF granted scholarships for nearly 1,600 students for the 2017-2018 school year. More than 2,000 students received scholarships from one of the other SGOs, according to quarterly reports.

Of the 3,621 students granted scholarships through March 31, 31 percent, or 1,131 were zoned to attend a "failing" public school, meaning the school's test scores were in the bottom 6 percent statewide in the 2016-2017 school year.

Proportion of students receiving tax credit scholarships through March 31 that are zoned for "failing" public schools.

Annual reports for the 2017-2018 school year are due in September. Nearly 4,100 scholarships costing an average of $5,223---a total of $21.4 million---were granted during the 2016-2017 school year.

Searcy said they worked with unaccredited schools to help them seek accreditation, but for some small schools, accreditation just wasn't possible. Searcy said schools had various reasons for not seeking accreditation, but, "it can be the cost, or it can be the number of hoops a school may have to jump through to become accredited."

Searcy said accreditation is a minimum bar to meet, but that it isn't the only thing families should consider when choosing a school for their child. For example, she said, all of Alabama's public schools are accredited, but that doesn't mean they're all a good fit for every child.

"We all know there are good and bad public schools," she said, "and good and bad private schools."

Searcy said there are many good options among the 151 private schools remaining on the list, but that her organization is also hoping to help students transfer from one public school to another.

"We have 230 children that want a public-to-public transfer," she said. Those students, all new to the scholarship program, are taking priority, she said, because transfer fees are less expensive than a year's tuition---meaning they can help more children find the school that is right for them.

Also, Searcy said, "For so many of our parents, that public school option is the preferred option."

But public schools are not required by law to take students from other school districts, leaving it up to public school officials to decide whether to accept a student on a case-by-case basis.

Searcy said she hopes public schools will open their doors to scholarship recipients and allow the scholarship to cover the cost of out-of-district tuition or transfer fees.

Quarterly reports show AOSF scholarships were given to 19 students to defray costs to attend public schools in the 2017-2018 school year: 14 at the Alabama School of Fine Arts and five at the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science.

"If you're looking at what's best for children you want to make sure they have as many choices as possible, and that includes public schools," she said.

Of the remaining private schools on the participating list, 120 are affiliated with a religion, six are specialized schools, and 23 do not report any religious affiliation. Two schools on the list have been reported as closed in media reports.

The proportion of private schools participating in the Alabama Accountability Act tax credit scholarship program that express a religious or other specialized affiliation.

A strong supporter of school choice, Searcy said parents with wealth already have choices that most families just don't have, she said, including the option to move into a district with good schools or to afford the cost of private school tuition.

Searcy said the AAA empowers parents to choose a school for their child. "We are giving poor parents who never had an opportunity to choose to actually have a choice," she said.

Searcy said she hopes the $30 million cap on yearly donations is raised during next year's legislative session. The full $30 million in tax credits was claimed by the end of March this year.

Expanding the program is important because not all children are served well in the state's public schools.

"We should always be looking for as many options as possible," Searcy said, "to meet the very different needs of children."

Updated 12:05 p.m. 7/9/2018 - The Alabama Department of Revenue added seven schools whose names did not appear on the June 11 list, used to report this story, back to a list dated July 6. The schools added back to the list are highlighted in yellow in the embedded document.